Coaching Tips

4 Tips to Boost Teacher Morale Now

February 24, 2021

October and February – those are historically the two most difficult months of the school year. By October, the honeymoon phase is over and everyone is counting down until the Thanksgiving and holiday breaks. February, though the shortest calendar month, feels like an eternity as the sheen of a new semester has worn off and spring break feels lightyears away. During these months – and all the ones in between – keeping up teacher morale is critical for the climate and culture of a school building.

While most people would consider teacher morale an administrative or district issue, instructional coaches are in a unique position to provide some extra boosts to the morale of the teachers they see every day. Here are four things you can do as an instructional coach to boost the teacher morale on your school campus.

Tip 1: Cheer for the Unsung Hero

School buildings are micro-communities that feature a variety of people working in a variety of roles. Some have roles that are more prominent and visible – like the campus administrators and front office staff – but others tend to work more behind the scenes – like your campus diagnostician, or Special Education aides. Some teachers are on every committee or team, while others feel more confident within the four walls of their classrooms. Regardless of their role, all campus staff are equally important in supporting the school culture and without them, schools would cease to exist. Unfortunately, schools can often feel like a popularity contest for the adults as much as it does for the kids. Teachers who are on the most committees or who are the most visible often appear to receive more accolades and kudos than those whose classrooms are so far from the teacher’s lounge that they don’t even bother to venture out for lunch.

As an instructional coach, it is important that we cheer not only for the go-getters and the high flyers, but for the unsung heroes as well. As a former teacher, it always seemed like no one ever noticed when I did what I was supposed to do, but as soon as I forgot to submit attendance on time or I had a lesson that was a bit of a flop, others noticed these shortcomings. As instructional coaches, we are in a unique situation in which they get to see the ins and outs of a typical day in ways that most others would not. Just because that teacher isn’t posting their own lessons on social media doesn’t mean the lessons aren’t worthy of sharing. As an instructional coach, it is our job to provide the praises that may otherwise go unsaid.

Tip 2: Be Thoughtful

One of my favorite things about being an instructional coach is the opportunity to do something thoughtful for my teachers. No matter how small, a thoughtful gesture has always gotten a positive reaction. Whether you leave a handwritten sticky note on the teacher’s desk, send an encouraging email, or put a small treat in their mailbox, a little reminder that someone is thinking of you and cheering you on can make most bad days a little brighter.

These thoughtful gestures become more impactful when you have built a relationship with the teachers you are coaching and can tailor your gesture to what means most to them. I’ve previously coached a teacher whose love language was Dr. Pepper – as a Michigander that didn’t make much sense to me, but I knew that if she was having a bad day bringing her a Dr. Pepper would really cheer her up. Another teacher I worked with kept a digital “Happy Folder.” Every time she received a positive or encouraging email, she would save it to this particular folder so she could go back to it when she felt discouraged. I knew to always put my kudos to this teacher in an email so she could save it to her Happy Folder.

Some coaches like to bring treats to their teachers. I, personally, believe that chocolate solves all the world’s problems, but not everyone else would agree. Many coaches keep a stash of chocolate and ‘not-chocolate’ on hand for their teachers. Though it’s the thought that counts, I prefer to treat my teachers to something they would enjoy, so I always try to jot down these details when I can. Teachers, though always grateful, will be infinitely more grateful that you remembered they didn’t like chocolate or that you remembered Dr. Pepper was their favorite and that you went out of your way to accommodate their likes.

Tip 3: Share the load

Teaching is hard. Teaching during a pandemic is hard. Teaching and keeping up with all the “other duties as assigned” is hard. As an instructional coach, we often see – first hand – the load the teachers are trying to carry. We hear about it in our coaching meetings, we see it during our classroom visits. As a coach, we are in a position to help teachers carry the load. This can be a simple gesture like covering their class for 5 minutes so they can run to the restroom, as well as something more substantial like co-teaching a class. Oftentimes when a teacher wants to try a new technology tool or instructional strategy, I will research and create resources for the teacher to use during their first implementation so they don’t have to waste time making something that ends up not working.

One of the greatest complaints teachers have always had is a lack of time. By sharing the load, we are giving teachers back a small portion of that time, which is a precious gift to many. By sharing the load and taking on some of those things that are burdening teachers, we give them the opportunity to feel lighter, less stressed, and more able to tackle the challenges in front of them.

Tip 4: Treat everyone as individuals

One of the easiest, and arguably simplest, ways to boost teacher morale is to treat each teacher as an individual. While this may sound silly, I’ve worked on campuses where the administration did not even know my name. I’ve worked on campuses where the teachers didn’t know me and assumed I was a rogue student. I’ve had instructional coaches ask me to integrate tools and resources that didn’t fit with my skill set. Too often, people search for high-impact strategies that are going to be a one-size-fits-all solution to teachers’ problems. While that is great for efficiency sake, it does not bode well for your ability to build trusting relationships with teachers.

As previously mentioned, it is important to get to know your teachers as individuals and to accommodate their needs in the way that works best for them. Knowing a teacher’s name, knowing details about their life and interests, and celebrating all their steps forward – no matter how small – can significantly boost teacher morale. At the end of the day, all teachers crave is appreciation. As instructional coaches we appreciate the work they do, we appreciate their willingness to work with us and take some risks, and we appreciate the opportunity to learn from them as well.

While these four tips may help provide some ideas for ways that you can show your appreciation to teachers, remember that the simplest, most effective way to boost morale is to just show your appreciation in some way. Whether a note, a favorite soda, or a quick 5-minute restroom break, appreciating who teachers are and what they do every single day for students is the most effective way to boost teacher morale on your campus.

What Does Effective Coaching Look Like in a Any Learning Environment?

January 28, 2021

What type of learning environment are you currently coaching in right now? As you read this, you might be in a remote learning environment, but that could change in the next 2-4 weeks. Depending on where you are in the country or world, you might be in a face-to-face learning environment.

All of these changes make it increasingly difficult to create consistent coaching cycles and you might even find yourself serving as tech support more than anything these days. Coaches, along with all other educators, have needed to adopt a strong sense of flexibility to support teachers through big periods of transitions. As you move forward, you need core tips and strategies you can rely in any learning environment and through any transitions.

In this post, I’m sharing my top 6 tips for coaching effectively in any learning environment. These are core tried and true tips you can add to your coaching toolbox to use now, as well as in the future.

Tip #1: Check-in with teachers by phone or text to provide encouragement

Teachers are busy, you’re busy as a coach, and whether you find yourself in a remote, blended, or in-person learning environment, face-to-face interaction can be difficult to come by. Teachers are overworked and overwhelmed. They are worried about the health and safety of themselves, their families, and their students. They are being asked to mimic the learning experiences of a normal school year in an environment that is beyond abnormal.

Any seasoned instructional coach will tell you that the first step to coaching is building relationships. Even in a normal educational environment, coaching does not begin with tools or instructional strategies, it begins with getting to know the teachers on a personal level and building a sense of trust and support. These relationships become increasingly more essential when learning environments are constantly changing.

At a time when teachers are worried about the health and safety of everyone around them, instructional coaches need to begin with concern for the health and safety of their teachers. Instructional coaches should set aside some time each morning to check in with the teachers on their campus(es) and provide some support or encouragement. This small gesture can remind teachers that they are not alone and that others are looking out for them in the same way they are looking out for their own loved ones.

Tip #2: Offer Tech Support as Appropriate

While tech support may not be in the instructional coach’s job description, this is an evident need in the current remote learning environment. In many cases, both students and teachers are being asked to use devices and programs they have never used before, often with little or no training. As an instructional coach, we have the opportunity to help both teachers and students navigate these new tools and unfamiliar domains. While some instructional coaches will read this and say, “but I’m not tech savvy” or “I don’t know how all the different tools and platforms work” – that is okay!

As an instructional coach, providing tech support is not necessarily about being tech savvy or having the IT knowledge and skills to be knowledgeable of all the different tools that are out there. Providing technical support as an instructional coach often means conducting research regarding a particular error message teachers keep running into or creating a screencast of how to login to the school’s digital resources. There are many times teachers will be using a digital tool and it just does not function the way they are anticipating. As an instructional coach, I can take the time to research what issues are happening so the teacher can continue their lesson and provide support to students.

Tip #3: Create a One-Stop-Shop of Resources

As instructional coaches become more knowledgeable and proficient with developing resources to share with teachers it is important to curate those resources into a one-stop-shop. There is a significant chance that a question one teacher has will later be asked by several other teachers; and more importantly, when you solve one teacher’s technical issue, several more will ask how to solve that issue as well. For these reasons, it is important for instructional coaches to organize any tip sheets, videos or links they have found into an easy-to-navigate resource for teachers. Some coaches like to use Google Classroom, while others post everything on a Google Site. Regardless of the platform you choose, it is important that this resource be easy to find and navigate. As teachers come to you seeking support, you can direct them back to your resources to find the answers they may need.

Tip #4: Ask to Be Invited as a Co-Teacher or Co-Host During an In-Person or Online Class

One of the benefits to being an instructional coach is the ability to visit multiple classrooms each day to understand and support teacher challenges. If you’re still in a remote learning environment, classroom visits can go virtual. Many instructional coaches have joined in a teacher’s Zoom, Webex or Google Meet lesson to understand what the virtual learning environment is like for both students and teachers. By participating in the video conference, coaches can not only observe what is going on, but they can also provide additional support as a co-teacher, a modeler, or even guest teach a lesson.

In addition to providing support during active lessons, instructional coaches can also provide support through a teacher’s virtual classroom space. Many schools have transitioned to a learning management system during this time – if they were not already using one before – in order to create a virtual classroom environment for students. Whether you are using Google Classroom, Canvas, Blackboard, Schoology or something else, ask teachers to add you to their class as an observer or a co-teacher. Becoming part of that virtual classroom environment will allow you to see how the teacher is organizing their class materials, what types of lessons or activities they are posting, as well as provide insight as to what tools or strategies to recommend.

Tip #5: Provide Feedback on Remote, Hybrid, or In-Person Learning Plans

This leads me to my next tip – providing feedback on learning plans. Because it may be difficult to observe certain instructional moves or challenges during a live classroom experience, understanding those challenges as they relate to the learning plans is essential for providing effective coaching feedback.

As an instructional coach, because much of the learning plan lives online, it is important to provide feedback on that plan. Coaches can discuss with teachers how they are providing feedback on various activities or lessons, how the teacher is helping students navigate the different resources they need to complete their work, and how teachers can provide practice and reassessment opportunities for students to continue progressing their skills. This would be similar to a coach sitting down with a teacher and discussing their lesson plans for the upcoming week. Good instructional practices remain good instructional practices throughout all learning environments.

By joining a teacher’s learning space, coaches can provide feedback to teachers asynchronously which is crucial during this time. Many teachers have been granted “other duties as assigned” and may be covering for sick colleagues during their regularly scheduled off periods. While it is important to have live discussion with teachers, much of this legwork can be completed prior to meeting with your teachers which can help streamline the coaching conversation.

Tip #6: Offer “virtual office hours” for anyone who wants to connect

Lastly, teachers often don’t know what they don’t know and questions can come up at any time. As an instructional coach, consider scheduling virtual office hours where teachers can connect with you for whatever questions or issues they may be having. Some teachers will pop in frequently, while others may have a quick question, but this availability goes a long way in reminding teachers that they have support even when teaching remotely.

While nothing about this school year is normal, there are still ways instructional coaches can adapt their practices to support teachers and students in all learning environments. As I often tell my teachers, anything you can do in a traditional face to face classroom can be done virtually if you are willing to think outside the box – the same goes for coaching. While your cycles may look different, your classroom visits are more infrequent, and your coaching conversations a bit more complex, good coaching strategies remain good coaching strategies even in a blended, remote and in-person learning environment. Providing support, resources, and feedback are still the most effective ways to provide coaching support to teachers, the ways in which this is done may just look a little different for now.

Megan Purcell is a Digital Learning Specialist and Certified Dynamic Learning Project coach in Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD located in Carrollton, TX. She enjoys working with teachers to help them elevate their teaching through the use of impactful technology tools and strategies. Megan holds a masters degree in Educational Technology, which she earned overseas at the National University of Ireland in Galway, in addition to being a certified Microsoft Innovative Educator and Apple Teacher. She is a former high school English teacher who loves learning, technology, and helping make life easier for her teachers. She believes that every student should have access to current technology in order to develop 21st century skills necessary for participating in a global society.

How to use Google Classroom as an Instructional Coach

September 22, 2020

Google Classroom has become an increasingly popular platform for teachers and educators, especially in the midst of the transition to remote learning caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Though Google Classroom has – up to this point – been regarded as a tool for teachers to work with students, we are reinventing Google Classroom as a tool for instructional coaches. Google Classroom is an all-inclusive tool for coaches to communicate, connect and support their teachers as we continue on this remote learning journey.

What is Google Classroom?

Google Classroom can be thought of as a one-stop-shop for students and teachers. Google Classroom is an easy way to seamlessly integrate all of Google’s G Suite tools used for teaching and learning, especially in remote and asynchronous environments. Some teachers were initially interested in Google Classroom as an organizational system to rid their desks of paper clutter, but this program has proven to be significantly more robust than just being a virtual filing cabinet.

How do Teachers use Google Classroom?

Though teachers first began using Google Classroom as a means to go paperless, this learning tool has gained popularity because of its functionality and ease of use. Teachers most often use Google Classroom to streamline how they manage their classroom resources. From the syllabus to the final exam, teachers can store all their lesson content, assignments, and additional resources all in one place for students. Because Google Classroom integrates with other G Suite tools, there are several benefits to using this platform. For example, when assignments are posted in Google Classroom, the Calendar app recognizes the due date of that assignment and will automatically post the assignment to the calendar as a reminder for students to easily keep track of when their work is due.

Teachers also love the ability to digitally organize, distribute, and collect assignments or other course materials via Google Classroom. Teachers can easily post the same assignment to multiple classes at the same time, or assign something to individual students that require differentiation or additional support. Any assignment or material posted to Google Classroom can be reposted to future classes, which saves teachers from reinventing the wheel each year.

Google Classroom also allows teachers to communicate with students via announcements and discussion boards, which can help keep students organized and on track. Teachers can set various permissions that allow students to comment on announcements or simply view them depending on the needs of the class. Parents can also receive notifications from Google Classroom about what assignments have been posted and what assignments their student may be missing, which helps to support an open line of communication for all stakeholders.

How can Instructional Coaches use Google Classroom?

Tip #1: Organization

Though Google Classroom is typically considered a one-stop-shop for teachers and students, it can be a great resource for instructional coaches as well. When I first began coaching, I had resources all over the place and my solution to that was to print everything out and make a binder that I could share with the teachers I was coaching. While the binder was a great way to keep everything in one place, those resources were only accessible when the binder was in my possession. If I wanted to look up a resource at home or refer back to meeting notes, I was unable to do so without the binder. Another downside to the paper binder was that when things changed, as they always do in education, those resources became outdated and unusable.

As an instructional coach, Google Classroom can replace your paper-based organizational system, for a more complete resource hub. Google Classroom can house all the materials, announcements, videos, and resources you want to share with your teachers. You can make a different classroom for each teacher you are coaching, or one classroom for everyone which would allow teachers to collaborate with each other as well. Regardless of which method you choose, Google Classroom will help instructional coaches organize all of their coaching materials for teachers. Even better – these classrooms remain active and available for teachers long after the coaching cycle ends. Teachers do not need to fear that resources will go away once the cycle ends, and can refer back to their meeting notes, videos, or discussions at any point throughout the year.

Tip #2: Announcements & Communication

As an instructional coach, there are often times you find a cool new tool or think of new ways to implement instructional strategies, but you’ve already had your meetings with teachers for the week. Usually, I would send an email to the teacher with my findings, but if you’ve ever seen a teacher’s inbox, you know it is very likely that those emails go unread or get buried somewhere. Google Classroom would allow you as an instructional coach to post announcements for teachers that would draw attention to whatever resources you are sharing at that time. These announcements also help teachers keep coaching related materials together, instead of having a folder in their email in addition to a folder on their drive, and then some random papers printed out too.

Announcements would also be a good way for coaches to send reminders to teachers about when you are facilitating coaching meetings, campus training, and other professional development opportunities. Announcements, especially in collective classes, could be used to highlight and celebrate the awesome things teachers are doing in their classrooms as well.

Tip #3: Giving and Collecting Feedback

Similarly to the ways in which teachers provide and collect feedback from students, instructional coaches can use Google Classroom to provide and collect feedback from teachers. Maybe you want a teacher to try a new strategy in their classroom, Google Classroom would allow you to create an assignment for that teacher to remind them of the task that needs to be completed. You could ask teachers to reflect on a particular lesson or activity using discussion boards or even assign a coaching survey through Google Forms to collect data about the coaching cycle. Using assignments and discussions within Google Classroom allows the teacher to tangibly keep track of and complete tasks while also providing the coach with opportunities to provide feedback. Just Google Classroom allows teachers and students to communicate asynchronously, Google Classroom can provide the same opportunities to teachers and coaches.

Tip #4: Scheduling

Another benefit to using Google Classroom as a coaching tool is the integration of other G Suite products like Google Calendar. Coaches can create a collaborative calendar with the teachers they are supporting and schedule things like meeting reminders or tasks that need to be accomplished. Oftentimes coaches need teachers to answer some questions, reflect on their lesson or prepare a challenge to be discussed – all of which can be posted in the Classroom as ungraded assignments so they will show up on the teacher’s calendar as to-do items. This can help teachers keep track of their participation in coaching, as well as where they currently are in their coaching cycle.

Google Classroom has long proven itself to be an impactful tool for teachers to use in their classrooms, but now has an opportunity to serve instructional coaches as well. Google Classroom is an easily accessible, intuitive tool to facilitate continuous communication and support between instructional coaches and teachers despite challenges of time and physical space.

How to Effectively Coach in a Blended and Remote Learning Environment

September 9, 2020

The rapidly changing nature of the world is having a dramatic impact on society, the workforce, and ultimately education. Just a few months ago, educators across the country were asked to uproot everything they knew about teaching and learning to transition to a new form of teaching amid a global pandemic. Though the dust has not yet settled, educators are becoming increasingly more equipped to handle teaching in this new environment. As instructional coaches, it is our obligation to support our teachers through this difficult time and ensure that students are still getting the education they deserve. As teacher’s roles have, and will continue, to change, so will the role of the instructional coach.

While some districts may be fortunate to return to face-to-face learning come fall, even those environments will likely be vastly different from what has been the norm for decades. Some districts are offering a blended model of learning, and still, others are opting for complete remote instruction. Regardless of which circumstance you find yourself in, there are instructional coaching strategies applicable in all settings.

Here are five tips for navigating blended and remote instructional coaching.

Tip #1: Relationships Still Matter

Whether you are coaching face-to-face, in a blended model, or completely online, there is one thing that will never change – relationships matter! Regardless of the context, it is important as an instructional coach to establish a relationship with each of the teachers you are coaching. While remote coaching may make this opportunity a little more difficult, it is imperative to find a way to speak with each teacher live. You can set up a Zoom meeting, socially distance at school, or connect on the phone if all else fails, but it is important to start with that human connection.

Once that initial connection is established, the relationship needs to continue to build throughout the coaching cycle. Now, more than ever, teachers are feeling anxious about returning to school. Teachers are scared for their health and the health of their family. Teachers are worried about their students and the learning they will be able to provide them. Teachers feel isolated and alone in their feelings and often cope in silence. As an instructional coach, I have often joked that a significant element of my job is providing therapy to teachers and allowing them to vent their feelings and frustrations – but that is no longer a joke, it has become a job requirement.

As you coach teachers throughout the school year, and especially this fall, it is important to not only provide technical and instructional support, but moral support as well. Check in with your teachers often, ask about how they are doing, and how things are going at home. Offer to counsel and support them in any way possible. Just as teachers often worry about their students beyond the school day, you will find yourself as a coach worrying about your teachers.

Whether you are coaching face-to-face, in a blended model, or remotely – a trusting relationship is going to be essential. Things may not go smoothly, things may fail miserably, and things may not work the first time. It is important to be available to support teachers when things go awry, it is important to have troubleshooting resources available for teachers, and it is important to be someone your teachers feel comfortable reaching out to.

While relationship building is important in traditional coaching environments, it is imperative in blended and remote coaching models. Without a relationship, it is highly unlikely teachers will prioritize coaching – especially in the context of this pandemic. Building relationships will not only help teachers be successful, but it will help prioritize coaching.

Tip #2: Include Both Synchronous and Asynchronous Support

While many schools are offering both virtual and face-to-face learning options, instructional coaches need to follow suit. One of the good things that has come out of the COVID-19 pandemic – if you can find any good things – is the integration of both synchronous and asynchronous learning. Teachers have been saying for years that learning does not just occur in a classroom, and now is our chance to really prove that. In addition to broadening the scope of learning, teachers and schools are becoming more accepting of students learning at their own pace, on their own time.

It is no secret that teachers do not have much downtime throughout the course of a school day – that’s usually one of the reasons they avoid being coached at all costs. However, if coaches could provide both synchronous and asynchronous support to teachers, coaching not only becomes more accessible, but it also allows the coach to accommodate each teacher’s different needs. As an instructional coach, I encourage you to develop tutorials, handouts, or a collection of general tips that you can share with teachers. These instructional pieces should be easy for the teacher to understand and follow on their own, in addition to being accessible at any time.

In addition to offering support to teachers asynchronously, teachers can request help from coaches asynchronously as well. While some teachers may be teaching face-to-face, it might not be safe or comfortable to have additional bodies in the room for classroom visits. In this case, the teacher can record themselves facilitating a lesson and send that video to the coach to receive feedback. The coach can analyze the video and make notes or suggestions based on what they see, which would provide some talking points for the next coaching meeting.

Tip #3: Develop a Cadence

While flexibility will be the name of the game in 2020, it is still important for an instructional coach to develop a cadence for coaching. Typically coaching takes place in cycles and each cycle has a cadence for meetings and classroom visits. While meetings and classroom visits may look a little different this year, it is still important to develop some kind of coaching rhythm to keep yourself on track.

The first thing you should decide is whether or not you want to establish coaching cycles, how many, and for how long. Some coaches may want to stick to 8-week cycles, some may want to adapt them to 6 or 9 week grading periods, while others may want to rotate teachers by month. Once the length of the cycle has been determined, it must then be decided how many teachers will be coached. My word of advice – just because more teachers will need help during this time, that does not mean you have to serve them all at once. Decide what load is manageable for you, and enlist the help of some rockstar teachers when needed. Some teachers just need help setting up their Google Classroom, while others need more in-depth assistance. Determine what your teachers need and prioritize who gets your support.

Once you have determined how many teachers you will coach and for how long, the next step in the cadence is determining how to structure your weeks and your days. Depending on whether students are remote learning or face-to-face learning will have a significant impact on what you decide. Maybe one day a week is video conferencing with all of your teachers being coached, while another day is spent researching best practices and putting together resources. What is important is that you as a coach find and develop a cadence that works for you, and you stick to it!

Don’t be afraid to schedule things on your calendar to keep yourself accountable. In these uncertain times and unfamiliar environments, it is easy to get sidetracked and distracted from your goals.

Tip #4: Don’t Forget Pedagogy

While many teachers are celebrating digital learning opportunities, others are less than thrilled. As evidenced by the remote learning transition in the spring, many teachers went into survival mode and began posting worksheets online for students to complete at home. While this type of instruction was appropriate for initial crisis management, it has become increasingly important for teachers to rethink and redefine the ways they are approaching remote learning. As an instructional coach, it will be critical for you to keep pedagogy at the forefront. Many teachers will want to just post worksheets in Google Docs or have the students watch a YouTube video and answer some questions about it, but in these contexts that may not be the best facilitation of instruction.

As the environment changes, the instruction must change with it. It is important for teachers to engage their students just as they would in the classroom, despite the difficulties presented by distance. Some teachers will look for the latest and greatest tech gadget, and their students will end up playing with toys instead of learning the content. As the instructional coach, it is important to ensure that teachers are not throwing pedagogy out the window, especially in remote settings. Good teaching strategies will always remain good teaching strategies, and there is almost always a way to facilitate those same strategies remotely – you just might have to get creative.

At the end of the day, schools are asking students to return to learning because it has been deemed important, so we need to make sure we are providing a quality education for our kids. Don’t be afraid to hold teachers accountable and let them know when the pedagogy has been neglected, just be sure to have some suggestions prepared to provide support. Now, more than ever, your PLN (professional learning network) is going to be a great resource for new ideas, support, and growth.

Tip #5: Be Prepared for Anything

As previously mentioned, flexibility is the name of the game for 2020 and you must be prepared for ANYTHING! It is easy for me to sit here and prescribe suggestions or resources, but those may become obsolete in seconds depending on what happens with COVID-19 and government regulations. Teachers need to be prepared for face-to-face instruction, remote instruction, blended instruction, and for those environments to change at the drop of a hat. As instructional coaches, we need to be ready to support teachers in each of those environments as well as help them make the transitions between the platforms.

In addition to being ready for supporting teachers in all settings, you must also be prepared to perform job duties that are both new and familiar to you. Even though our job title is ‘instructional coach’ we all know that teachers are often asked to take on “other duties as assigned.” Do not be surprised if you get additional duties added to your plate, depending on your role in your school or district. These are uncertain times for everyone and school leaders are doing their best to provide the type of education students deserve. Teachers will be asked to wear many hats this year, and as coaches, we likely will too. No matter what gets thrown at you, it is important to be flexible, work to the best of your ability, and always keep a stash of chocolate around for emergencies.

How to Prep for the Next School Year [5 Actionable Strategies for Instructional Coaches]

July 21, 2020

Educators nationwide are holding their breath waiting for information about what school will look like in the fall. Some districts are offering both face-to-face and remote learning options, other districts are hopeful that school will be able to resume as normal, and even more are planning for complete distance learning. Regardless of what the physical educational environment looks like in the coming days, here are some tips for educational coaches to prepare for a new school year that apply in both face-to-face and remote learning environments.

Strategy #1: Develop Your Goals and Vision

Each year, school administrators typically develop a shared goal and vision for the campus to adhere to that year. As an instructional coach, it is important to develop your own goals and vision for working with the teachers you serve. It is important that coaches support campus initiatives and have a clear direction as to how they want to best support staff. Perhaps this year you will focus on integrating one tech tool into each classroom. Maybe you want to get the entire English department using Google Classroom. Your goal may even be to serve a certain percentage of teachers or to coach at least one teacher in every department.

Whatever your goal may be, it is important that you be clear and precise and develop actionable steps for reaching that goal. Maybe you need to plan out your cycles ahead of time to ensure you can serve everyone. Maybe you need to prepare some learning materials or handouts for teachers to keep on hand as they facilitate lessons. Maybe you need to develop instructional videos for your campus so teachers can refer back to them after PD. Whatever this goal may be, this is a great time to look ahead and plan so you’re ready for whatever the fall may bring. Coaches can also use this time to conduct their own research or study topics that interested them from the past year, that they never got around to looking into. Now is a great time to play with different digital tools, read about different instructional strategies and really fill up that toolkit. With your toolkit full, you’ll be ready to tackle any issue regardless of the physical learning environment.

Strategy #2: Target Your Teachers

The start of the school year is a great time for coaches to begin recruiting teachers for instructional coaching. Unfortunately, many teachers are often resistant to participate in coaching at the start of the year because they are trying to get their classrooms up and running themselves and just see coaching as a burden or hindrance to that. Try connecting with some of those new teachers and offer to partner with them at the beginning of the year in order to make their transition to the school year more seamless. To get these teachers on board, it is important that you have developed your hook – or reason to encourage teachers to be coached. You might consider contacting these teachers even before the year starts and sharing with them the services you offer and the benefits you can provide them through a partnership. Many new teachers may feel less overwhelmed at the start of the year if they know there is someone there to help them with whatever challenges they may face.

Ready to get prepared now to support your teachers in blended, remote, and face-to-face learning?>>>

Strategy #3: Develop Universal Resources

Because no one knows what school may look like in the fall, it is important to develop tools and resources that can work in both face-to-face and remote settings. Preparing handouts, one-pagers, screencasts and other professional development resources that are asynchronous are always a good idea. If you have the opportunity to meet face-to-face with teachers on campus, you will already have these resources ready to go, but if you are working in a remote setting, it is easy for you to share your research for teachers to go through on their own.

This is also a good time to explore different tools that may help you achieve your coaching goals, whether that’s using video conferencing tools, collective documents or some other means of communication.

Strategy #4: Determine Teacher’s Needs

As this pandemic swept the globe, teachers were asked to make a lot of adjustments very quickly and with little resources. As an instructional coach, you have the opportunity to support teachers through these difficult times. At the beginning of the school year, it might be beneficial to conduct a needs assessment for your teachers to determine how to best serve them in the coming year. If you don’t want to wait, reach out to your teachers or your PLN and ask them what they anticipate their needs to be in the fall. That way, you can be prepared before students begin learning again and are ready to help with whatever is necessary.

Strategy #5: Be Flexible and Take Care of Yourself

Though last school year didn’t have a clean end like the years usually do, it is important that as you begin to think about next year, you take time to have a break. Yes, there continues to be anxiety over what decisions lawmakers will make about the return to school, but you need to take time away from the worry. Make time to unplug for the summer and not think about school. Take a vacation or stay-cation to unwind and relax. Clear your mind with your activity of choice and set yourself up to come back to the school year refreshed. There is no doubt the fall will require flexibility and it is easier to be flexible when your mind and body have been nourished.

As I have often told my technology reluctant teachers during coaching – good teaching is good teaching, regardless of the tools. Instructional coaching is no different. Good coaching is good coaching, regardless of the educational situation. Whether schools decide to resume face-to-face instruction or continue with remote learning, your position as a coach remains the same – to provide guidance and support to teachers.